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I’m back!

It seems like an entire age of men has past since I’ve posted here. No. It’s not because there hasn’t been anything worth blogging. In fact, over the last few months, there have been a number of things that I really wanted to rant about. But I’ve just been too busy.

What with?

Learning to code.

I took the Web Development Immersive (WDI) course run by General Assembly. It was 12 super intense weeks. I went in knowing only a little bit of Python. Actually I did that online Python course to find out if I would enjoy coding. And since I realised that I did, I decided to take the plunge to invest the 12 weeks and $3.5k into the course (this is after the generous subsidy from IDA!).

We were warned that it was an intense course. The warning was an understatement. I can’t remember the last time I slept so little. And I was working all of the 12 weekends. There were times when I felt like tearing out my (already thinning) hair. Many moments of despondence.

But there were also the moments when I managed to figure out something, or work out a bug, iron out some kinks. And those are the moments when I would (literally) jump for joy and shout triumphantly.

And I am proud to say that I can make some simple full stack web applications. My projects can be found in my GitHub. With some luck, at least one of my projects will even be used by a social enterprise that may have a (small) positive impact on Singapore. So YAY!

I’ve been told that one could probably learn about coding through online courses for a fraction of the cost. That is definitely true. But what the course gives that online courses can’t is the tight-knit community of learners. People you can bounce ideas with, people who can spur you own, people who can help you find better solutions, people you can discuss your code with.

Most importantly, people you can work together to build stuff with. Amazing people like these:

Bunch of crazy braindead pancakes

My course mates are an amazing bunch of people. We have a doctor amongst us. An A&E specialist. No. He didn’t quit. He was clearing leave and off-days to do the course. While doing the course, he was still working in a hospital. He would go back to the hospital almost everyday to clear some work. He also did the night shift on Fridays.

And we also have a 56 years-old gentleman. His daughter is already 22 years-old. He is very humble and keeps saying that he’s slow and takes longer to get things. But that’s just him being humble. He’s actually able to keep up to the pace of the class. I worked with him on a project and he was able to deliver on all the things assigned to him.

Those are just two examples of the amazing people in my class. People who pro-actively took the step to pick up a new skill. While we can’t say that we are kick-ass developers (come on… three months only leh…), but what’s important is that we have built a good foundation to be able to better learn on our own and develop this craft further.

And… apparently, going by the experience of the previous batches of WDI, what we’ve gone through is sufficient for us to get a relatively good job in web-development! Helps that there are more web-development jobs than there are people with the right skills.

So. Yes. Labour market doesn’t look all too bright. But. There’s no need to panic. There are still bright spots. But you really need to put in the effort to get the right skills and continue honing that craft.

If any one wants to find out more about the WDI course from GA, feel free to ping me by leaving a comment or PM me on my Facebook page. I’ll try my best to respond!

Now… time for me to release my pent up ranting mode! Are you ready for more crazy random chatter?! Teehee!